Should my mum have updated the title deeds when my dad died?

[triangulate]

My mum and dad jointly owned their home until my dad died 10 years ago, at which point my mum became sole owner. However, she didn't change the Title Deeds, so my dad is still named on them. Should she have done this?

I'm asking because my mum died recently, and I have a grant of probate to sell the house. I'm filling in the conveyancing forms and wondering if the solicitor will need evidence that a) my dad died (i.e. death certificate) and b) my mum therefore became sole owner of the house (e.g. my Dad's Will).

I emailed the solictor with this question last week but they don't reply quickly, and ideally I want to get all the paperwork ready to send off in one batch tomorrow. It is easy for me to include the death certificate and Will, but am I overthinking it?

I am in exactly this position. I have sent the death certificate and will to the solicitors, but they may also ask me to fill in a particular form, I have the impression that this is a fairly common and straightforward process. Don't worry too much.

In our case, the deeds were not updated when my dad died, so when my mum died we have a copy of my dad’s death certificate to the conveyancer selling the house and she sorted it out. It was easy and she didn’t make us feel bad for not doing it sooner.

Great, thanks. That's reassuring.

Do you know how the house was owned ?

If the ownership was joint, it automatically passes to the survivor. If it was owned as tenants in common, then the will dictates who is now the owner of his part.

When MIL died, we changed Deeds to his name only, but when he died, it held up sale of house as Solicitor we didn’t need to do it. We had to put house in our names and then the sale could go through. Definitely check with Solicitor before you do anything, I wish I had.

Would that be specified on the title deed? It says it was owned by X and Y, and doesn't say anything about being tenants in common, so I'm assuming it was jointly owned. I think (hope) my mum would have known to do something about it if that were the case.

I had a thread on this recently

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_matters/4472249-Do-house-deeds-legally-have-to-be-changed-after-a-joint-owner-s-death

Pressed too soon, I don’t think you’ll have a problem OP